<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
The Surah takes its name from the alphabetic letter <em>Suad</em> with which it
begins.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
As will be explained below, according to some traditions this Surah was
sent down in the period when the Holy Prophet had started calling the
people openly to Islam in Makkah, and this had caused great alarm
among the chiefs of the Quraish. If this be true, its period of
revelation would be about the 4th year of the Prophethood. According
to some other traditions, it was sent down after Hadrat
Umar's embracing Islam, and this happened, as is well known, after the
migration to Habash. Another chain of the traditions shows that the
event which occasioned the revelation of this Surah took place during
the last illness of Abu Talib. If this be correct, the period of its
revelation would be the 10th or 11th year of the Prophethood.
</p>
<h2>Historical Background</h2>
<p>
Here is a resume of the traditions related by Imam Ahmad, Nasa'i,
Tirmidhi, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Shaibah, Ibn Abu Hatim, Muhammad bin
Ishaq and others: 
</p>
<p>
When Abu Talib fell ill, and the Quraish chiefs knew
that his end was near, they held consultations and decided to approach
the old chief with the request that he should solve the dispute
between them and his nephew. For they feared that if Abu Talib died
and then they subjected Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) to a
harsh treatment, after his death, the Arabs would taunt them, saying,
"They were afraid of the old chief as long as he lived now that he is
dead they have started maltreating his nephew." At least 25 of the
Quraish chiefs including Abu Jahl, Abu Sufyan, Umayyah bin Khalaf, As
bin Wa'il, Aswad bin al-Muttalib, 'Uqbah bin Abi Mu'ait, Utbah and
Shaibah went to Abu Talib. First, they put before him their complaints
against the Holy Prophet as usual, then said, "We have come to present
before you a just request and it is this : let your nephew leave us to
our religion, and we shall leave him to his. He may worship whomever
he may please: we shall not stand in his way in this matter; but he
should not condemn our gods, and should not try to force us to give
them up. Please tell him to make terms with us on this condition". Abu
Talib called the Holy Prophet and said, "Dear nephew, these people of
your tribe have come to me with a request. They want you to agree with
them on a just matter so as to put an end to your dispute with them."
Then he told him about the request of the chiefs of the Quraish. The
Holy Prophet replied, "Dear uncle: I shall request them to agree upon a
thing which, if they accept, will enable them to conquer the whole of
Arabia and subject the non-Arab world to their domination. "Hearing
this the people were first confounded; they did not know how they
should turn down such a proposal. Then, after they had considered
the matter, they replied: "You speak of one word: we are prepared to
repeat ten others like it, but please tell us what it is." The Holy
Prophet said: <em>La ilaha ill-Allah</em>. At this they got up all together and
left the place saying what Allah has narrated in the initial part of
this Surah. 
</p>
<p>
Ibn Sa'd in his <em>Tabaqat</em> has related this event just as
cited above, but, according to him, this did not happen during Abu
Talibs last illness but at the time when the Holy Prophet had started
preaching Islam openly, and the news of the conversion of one person
or the other was being heard almost daily in Makkah. In those days the
Quraish chiefs had led several deputations to Abu Talib and had asked
him to stop Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) from
preaching his message, and it was with one of those deputations that
this conversation had taken place. 
</p>
<p>
Zamakhshari, Razi, Nisaburi ond
some other commentators say that this deputation went to Abu Talib at
the time then the chiefs of the Quraish had been upset at Hadrat
Umar's embracing Islam; but no reference to its basis is available in
any book of the traditions, nor have these commentators cited the
source of their this information. However, if it be true, it is
understand able. For the unbelieving Quraish had already been
bewildered to see that the person who had arisen from among themselves
with the message of Islam had no parallel in the entire tribe as
regarded nobility, purity of character, wisdom and seriousness.
Moreover, his right hand man and chief supporter was a man like Abu
Bakr, who was well known in and around Makkah as a gentle, righteous
and brilliant man. Now when they might have seen that a brave and
resolute man like Umar also had joined them, they must have felt that
the danger was growing and becoming intolerable. 
</p>
<h2>Subject Matter and Topics</h2>
<p>
The Surah begins with a review of the aforesaid meeting. Making
the dialogue between the Holy Prophet and the disbelievers the basis,
Allah says that the actual reason with those people for their denial
is not any defect in the message of Islam but their own arrogance,
jealousy and insistence on following the blind. They are not prepared
to believe in a man from their own clan as a Prophet of God and follow
him. They want to persist in the ideas of ignorance which they have
found their ancestors following. And when a person exposes their this
ignorance and presents the truth before them, they are alarmed and
regard it as an oddity, rather as a novel and impossible thing. For
them the concept of Tauhid and the Hereafter is not only an
unacceptable creed but also a concept which only deserves to be
ridiculed and mocked. 
</p>
<p>
Then, Allah, both in the initial part of the
Surah and in its last sentences, has precisely warned the disbelievers,
as if to say, "The man whom you are ridiculing today and whose
guidance you reject will soon overpower you,and the time is not far
when in this very city of Makkah, where you are persecuting him, he
will overwhelm you completely." 
</p>
<p>
Then describing nine of the Prophets,
one after the other, with greater details of the story of the Prophets
David and Solomon; Allah has emphasized the point that His Law of
Justice is impartial and objective, that only the right attitude of
man is acceptable to Him, that He calls to account and punishes every
wrongdoer who. ever he be, and that He likes only those people who do
not persist in wrongdoing but repent as soon as they are warned of it,
and pass their life in the world keeping in mind their accountability
in the Hereafter. 
</p>
<p>
After this, the final end that the obedient servants
and the disobedient people will meet in the Hereafter, has been
depicted, and two things have been especially impressed on the
disbelievers:(1) That the leaders and guides whom the ignorant people
are following blindly in the world, on the way of deviation, will have
reached Hell even before their followers in the Hereafter, and the two
groups will be cursing each other there; and (2) that the disbelievers
will be amazed to see that there is no trace whatever in Hell of the
believers whom they used to regard as contemptible in the world and
will themselves be involved in its torment. 
</p>
<p>
In conclusion, mention has
been made of the story of Adam and <Em>Iblis</Em> (Satan), which is meant to
tell the disbelieving Quraish that the same arrogance and vanity which
was preventing them from bowing before Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's
peace) had prevented <Em>Iblis</Em> also from bowing before Adam. <Em>Iblis</Em> felt
jealous of the high rank God had given to Adam and became accursed
when he disobeyed His Command. Likewise, "You, O people of Quraish,
are feeling jealous of the high rank God has bestowed on Muhammad
(upon whom be Allah's peace) and are not prepared to obey him whom God
has appointed His messenger. Therefore, you will be doomed ultimately
to the same fate as will be met by Satan."
</p>

